North Carolina
Duke
No. 1 Duke Tops Men's Soccer
November 12, 1999 | Men's Soccer
Nov. 12, 1999
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Duke scored four second-half goals and shutout North Carolina, 4-0, Friday evening in the Atlantic Coast Conference men's soccer tournament semifinals at Spry Stadium on the campus of Wake Forest University. Troy Garner and Donald McIntosh each scored twice for Duke, which advanced to the finals to face the winner of Friday night's Virginia-Wake Forest semifinal.
The two rivals battled to a scoreless tie at halftime with each team creating a handful of scoring opportunities to no avail. The Blue Devils, who earned a bye to the semifinals on behalf of being the tournament's top seed, appeared to be a fresher team in the second half than the fifth-seeded Tar Heels, who won a 1-0 double-overtime opening-round game over Clemson Thursday afternoon.
"Duke is a very talented team, and it showed tonight," UNC head coach Elmar olowich said after the game. "Certainly, their offensive is very explosive, but their defense did a very good job as well."
Garner scored Duke's first two goals in the span of two-and-a-half minutes early in the second period. He created his first goal by dribbling across the Tar Heel box from right to left and drilling a shot into the left of the net past Carolina goalkeeper Michael Ueltschey. Garner scored his second goal off a free kick. He took a shot that UNC forward Chris Carrieri saved, but Garner knocked his own rebound into the back of the goal for a 2-0 Blue Devil lead.
McIntosh scored two goals in the span of just over two minutes, delivering a laser of a shot into the upper left corner of the net from 25 yards out, over the outstretched hands of a leaping Ueltschey. McIntosh's second goal was a flick from five yards out off assists from Garner and Peter Gail.
Tar Heel sophomore defender Chris Leitch played very well for Carolina, as he marked ACC Player of the Year Ali Curtis throughout the contest.
"Chris Leitch did a great job against Curtis," Bolowich said. "But Duke has so many weapons. I hope we get an NCAA Tournament bid because this team has battled all year long against a very challenging schedule and has put together a fine season. I think we deserve a bid, but it's in the hands of the [NCAA Selection] Committee now."
Carolina now awaits a possible NCAA Tournament bid to be announced Monday night.
Carrieri led the Tar Heels with three shots on goal. UNC tallied seven shots to Duke's 13 in the game.
